Gene Simmons, from American rock legends KISS, has opened up to The Big Issue about his mother’s experience in Nazi Germany. In a frank, wide-ranging interview in this week’s Big Issue, the infamous rocker also discusses what he would do if he became Earth’s dictator – and he doesn’t pull any punches.

I’ve tried to talk about it but she just won’t do it“My mother was 14 when she was in the concentration camp in Nazi Germany,” says Simmons in this week’s Letter To My Younger Self. “My father left us when I was about six. She, bless her – and she continues to be a force – she never spoke about it. I did my own research and found out just now terrible it was. I’ve tried to talk about it but she just won’t do it.

“She saw her mother walk into the gas chambers. Her whole family was destroyed. My mother [pictured below] was the only one left alive. And she was 14. I’ve been to the Holocaust museum in Israel. The Nazis kept detailed records of every name and I saw my mother’s name at 14, listed as one of the passengers on the train.”

Reflecting upon his teenage dreams, Simmons confesses to some delusions of grandeur – and reveals his zero-tolerant plans for when he rules the world.

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